SludgePuppies
by Judge-Douglas-Mason
Summary: Wandering the sewers of downtown Las Vegas, what could be better?


Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. Wish they were, but they're not. Que Sera Sera.  
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"Maybe we should have taken that left back there." Greg said

"What left? There was no left." Sara griped

Walking through the sewers of downtown Las Vegas, Greg and Sara were looking for a body that someone had seen through a street grate and reported to the police. Kits in hand, they continued to walk the sewers in search of the decomposing corpse.

"Why don't we just follow our noses?" Greg suggested

"Follow our noses? Everything down here stinks. Besides, we're walking around in circles."

Greg set his kit down and opened it up, removing a can of bright orange spray paint. He stood up and sprayed an arrow on the side of the drain. Looking at him quizzically, Sara groaned.

"What good is that going to do? We're already lost."

"True, but at least we know that we're not far from the opening. If I spray at every turn, we can look up and eventually find a manhole cover or something. If you walk ahead of me and tell me which direction you think we should go, I'll spray another arrow. I just hope I don't run out of paint. But if I do, we can use evidence markers to back track. I also have a compass in my kit. But I think we should have just dropped down the hole where the body was seen. That would have made it much easier." he said

"Yeah, that might've made it easier, but can you imagine closing down a section of Main Street and cordoning it off as a crime scene? Think about all the lookie-loos and other Pagan Rubberneckers that would converge on the site. That's why Grissom told us to start at the entrance; fewer people and less hassle." Sara replied

They continued on walking through the tunnels and every time they made a turn Greg would spray the wall. Looking down at her map, Sara stood still at a four-way intersection, not sure in which way they should proceed. Shining his flashlight on the map, Greg took a pen from his pocket and marked the places where he had sprayed. The spot where the body was had been circled, but by the look of the map, they still had quite a way to go. It was near pitch black in the tunnels, except for when they'd pass under a street grate and the neon lights of the street above would shine down.

They followed the map and after a few wrong turns, they realized that they were lost again. Greg pulled out his compass and shined his light on it.

"We're headed north when we should be going south." he said

"So, what? We turn around and backtrack how far? How far have we come thus far?" she asked

Looking at the map, Greg guesstimated that they'd walked through a mile through the tunnel. He suggested that they go back to the entrance and one of them walk on the street and the other in the tunnel, using their walkies for communication. That way if the person topside found the street grate before the person in the tunnel, they could radio to the one below and create a sign of some sort to alert the other.

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At the entrance, Greg grabbed a couple of road flares, that way if he found the body first, he'd light the flare and drop it down the grate. This would create enough light for Sara to see where the body was. They'd stay in radio contact the whole time. Whenever Sara was posed with a turn, she'd radio Greg to see where he was. The map was of little use to her, as it had proven useless thus far, so she turned it over and traced a path of her own using Greg's pen. He certainly had some odd things in his kit. To the best of her knowledge no one else had spray paint, a compass or the 100 yards of parachute cord that he had in his kit. She wondered how he managed to close it without everything falling out. As for Sara, her kit was standard; almost exactly the same contents as Grissom's kit. Point in fact, she even had the same style kit that he did.

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Underground, Sara was at a turn when she radioed Greg.

"I've got a turn. Where are you?" she asked

"I'm in front of the MGM. The body was spotted under the Rampart, so go straight." he said

"I can't go straight. I can go right or I can go left."

Looking around, Greg got his bearings and looked at the manhole covers on the street.

"Go left, then make your first right, then make another right and then your next left. That'll take you straight. Its just like going in a semi-circle. Should I drop a flare?" he asked

"How many flares do you have?" she asked

"About a dozen. I cleared them all out of the truck. And in the event I run out, I grabbed a few flashlights, too." he explained

"Yeah, drop a flare and I'll let you know when I get there."

Sara followed Greg's instructions to the best of her ability and just as she was about to radio him that she'd found the flare, she slipped down a section of drain that was just before the flare. Sliding down the slippery, slimy section of drain, she rolled front ways and backward and when she finally landed she was about thirty feet from and ten feet below where she had been. She had to find a way to get back up to that flare and radio Greg. She tried to stand up but couldn't. Undoing her boot, she could feel a protrusion in her left ankle and thusly assumed that it was broken; the same with her wrist, which she had used to break her fall and slow her rate of descent. All in all she was in shitty condition. She searched the depths of the pool of sewage she'd landed in and thanked God that the skin from her injuries hadn't been broken. That would be pleasant, open wounds and sewage and runoff from the street above; what a combination.

On her hands and knees, she searched the water for hew\r walkie, but they weren't waterproof, so when she finally found it and tried to radio Greg all she got was static. She tried her cell phone next (when she learned she'd be going underground she placed it in a zip-lock bag) and there was a strong signal despite the concrete between she and Greg.

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Up on the street, Greg's cell rang and when he answered it he was surprised that it was Sara.

"Where are you and why aren't you on the walkie?"

He could hear her voice from below, but only just.

"I'm in a pit of sewer water with a broken ankle and wrist. I'm ten feet below where I should be and thirty feet from the flare. It seems as though the shaft I fell down goes under the drain where the flare is. Its like a multi-layered maze down here. But since I'm in an oubliette, with no foreseeable way out, I think you should call rescue. I'll try to get topside in the mean time because it'll take rescue a while to get to me. I'll try to make it easier for them by trying to find a way up." she explained

"Ok, I'll call for a bus."

On her good foot and with her good hand, climbed and duct taped the flashlight to her shoulder. There were cracks and chunks of missing concrete and after about half an hour she made it to the point where she'd slipped. She shined her light at the flare and then at her feet; judging the distance. By her estimation it would be a six foot jump, so she backed up a bit and even though her ankle was killing her, she gave it a go. She ran full steam and when she reached the edge, she pushed off and dove for the other side. She made it, but only barely. The flare was still going, but since there was no sign of the body in question, Sara limped on.

"Ok, Greg. I'm at the flare. Where are you and where should I be going now?"

Looking at the street and manhole covers, Greg knew where the body was and gave her instructions.

"Follow the drain for about six covers and then take a right and pass under four covers and then you should be there. I'll meet you there with another flare, but stay in contact, so keep your phone on."

The bus had arrived at Greg's location and they were in the process of lifting the grate when Sara showed up. They lowered down a climbing harness and she slipped into it and held on for dear life as she was raised the twenty feet to the surface. However, the rope rubbing against the edge of the grate began to sever the tie and just as she was within reach of the nearest medic, the rope broke and she went crashing down, landing on the body. Seeing this, the medics lowered her another rope and she tied them together. She was raised to the surface and placed in the back of the bus.

That left Greg to process the scene by himself. David showed up as soon as the body was located and carted it away.

Sara was taken to hospital and given four weeks recoup leave.

When she returned to work she and Greg had been dubbed "The Sludge Puppies"


End file.
